International flights

Andrew Dismore: International flights have been and are still landing on a regular basis at Heathrow and until recently other London airports, with no testing or required quarantine of passengers at the airport or elsewhere, unlike many other European and worldwide countries; do you consider this failure to test arriving passengers to have contributed to the spread of Covid-19; and what do you think should now happen?

The Mayor: My statutory powers do not extend to border controls and airports; however, London has many international air, rail and sea gateways and I have made representations to government to ensure that Londoners’ health is protected.
On the basis of the international experience, and drawing upon the example of Hong-Kong, Germany and New Zealand in particular, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport and the Home Secretary asking for an urgent update on plans to strengthen international arrival procedures. I presented the stricter measures adopted by other countries and contrasted these with the UK’s very limited response, with no testing or requirement to self-isolate. I am reassured to see some measures have since been announced and are being implemented by all ports of entry into London and the UK. I urge the government to ensure that evidence-based methods to control this pandemic, like a robust test – track – isolate and support system, are mobilized and reach effective capacity as quickly as possible.

Pandemic assessment to relax restrictions

Murad Qureshi: What is your assessment of the five lockdown tests used by the government to decide when to relax restrictions in relation to London?

The Mayor: I havewelcomedtheUK’s five testsasbroadly in line with the six criteriarecommended by theWHOand focusedonkey aspects of reducing transmission and prevention and treatment.
However,I remain concerned that in taking a national approach to assessing the five tests, the response in London may not be as effective or timelyas it could be.Ithereforewelcomethe move towardsa more nuanced regional/localapproach to easing lockdown as our surveillance systems improveand threat levels are understood.London has a specific set of challenges and opportunities and we need regional intelligence to inform regional decision making.
I also remain concernedthat lockdown measures are not lifted until the evidence shows that these tests have been met. I have been deeply concerned, as have members of the Government’sownSAGE committee,thatwe are now rushing too fast to lift lockdown measuresahead of meeting these tests. This includeshaving an effective Test, Trace, Isolate programme in place, which will be essentialif we are to prevent a second wave of the virus. If the government does not act quickly, we could lose the window of opportunity we have to keep our infection ratelowin London.

Adapting the Health Inequalities Strategy for new times

Onkar Sahota: What changes are you making to your health inequalities programmes to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic?

The Mayor: It is already clear that coronavirus, far from being a great leveller, is disproportionatelyaffectingsome individuals and communities inLondon–we see this in whois more likely tobe exposed to the virus orexperience severeeffects,but alsowho is suffering thesocial and economicconsequencesof the measuresbeingtakento control the virus.Thissets down a major challenge for action to tacklehealth inequalities now, and into the future.
The evidence used to develop theLondon health inequalities strategyremainsrelevant,andthe strategyoffers us a valuable framework on which to build our response.MyHealth Teamcontinue to keep the strategy under review, reflecting the COVID context, the recent Marmot review, and other changes since the strategy was developed. They have alsoreviewed the workprogrammeat the same time as supporting the COVID-19response,andcontinue toworkwith partnerstoprioritisehealthinequalities in this new context.
Work is underway in the London Health and Care Partnership to refresh the Vision in the light of theCovidpandemic. Action to address health inequalities is central to that work and implementation plans for the HIS and the Vision will be aligned.